For this, the ninth Fleshtones show at this venue in eight days, they pulled out all the stops. This is unquestionably one of the five greatest live acts on our planet circa '85. It is impossible to feign the kind of cool that this band exudes from the stage. Their art is timeless and precious, beyond mere entertainment. Peter Zaremba's frontmanship is dynamite. Those half shuffles are lethal, and then there's his 'swim'. Keith Streng and Gordon Spaeth spice the couscous with guitar and sax respectively. Marek Pakulski and Bill Mihizer are the ultimate rhythm section bar none.
Together, they pack a smattering of covers with a slew of Fleshtone style hits. Theirs is a loud sound, a proud sound so down pat that it's particularly obscene. They can take a set to the edge of a shambolic precipice and work it back precision tight. 'Hexbreaker', 'Roman Gods', 'New Scene', 'All Around The World', 'American Beat', the list is endless. These bones will rock to the memory for a long time after I've gone.
For a combo this resolutely commercial to remain such an unknown quantity here is conclusive evidence of the fact that the UK's finger is not so much on the pulse as lodged tightly up its backside. Have your heard the American Sound?